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The question from the test:
We have to go. It is time we… – A. Leave, B. Are leaving, C. Left, D. Must leave.
The correct answer is C. Can you please explain why? What grammatical phenomenon is present in this sentence? (I thought that this sentence should include a subjunctive and so I chose the answer A.)
As far as my memory helps, this structure is used when we want to indicate that something needed to be done a while ago and we're a bit late.
Your hunch about the phrase after "we" being a subjunctive is correct. And, you can use both present and past tense. However, the present tense might give the audience a "shouting" connotation and thus, isn't frequent.
To be more precise, it's colloquial to have a "high" after "is":
It's high time I changed those socks!
Can you please explain why?
There's an interesting afterthought in a Language Log post titled "It's time":
Some of the comments below ask about why the preterite would be used, and others correctly identify the reason: the preterite tense in English is often used for what is called "modal remoteness" — it takes us away from claiming something about the actual world.
If she knows where I am right now is about whether she knows in this world; if she knew where I am right now is about what it would be like in an alternate world, unlike this one, a world in which she does know.
P.S. "preterite" - past tense form of the verb
A and C are both correct. Letter A uses the present subjunctive and letter C uses the past subjunctive. It really is a matter of choice in English. Here are two examples:
"It's time I be made a partner." "It's time I were made a partner."
Both of these mean the same thing. I know your ESL teacher wants the past subjunctive "left" used above and not the present subjunctive "leave", so he might frown on my first example; however, both are correct in my examples and both A and C are correct in your situation, whether your ESL teacher "believe" it or not (present subjunctive). There are a few times in English wherein the present and past subjunctive forms can be used interchangeably; this is one of them. The second example using "were" or your example using "left" may give off a hint that it is more unlikely to happen than it would be if the present subjunctive were used therein, but it really is preference.
Other examples of present and past subjunctive interchangeability: "I would rather he be in agreement." "I would rather he were in agreement."
I believe that we can find this pattern (or structure), It's time, in most grammar books. Here is what Practical English Usage by Michael Swan writes about it:
306 it's time
1 followed by infinitive
[...]
2 followed by past tense with present meaning
It's time can also be followed by a subject with a past tense verb. The meaning is present.
It's time she went to bed.
It's time you washed those trousers.
I'm getting tired. It's time we went home.
The expression It's high time ... is often used in this structure in British English, to say that something is urgent.
It's high time you got a job.
I hope this is helpful.
